


something so magic about you (so tragic about you)

by Tremble



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, M/M, Not Beta Read, References to Abuse, References to Drugs, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, We Die Like Men, dave doesnt die in this one, even if im the one making it, i dont know shit about war things or 1960s slang my b, i just need all the content of them as possible, neither are graphically described, snippets of their life in the vietname war, the war buddies are here briefly as plot things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 01:31:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18713782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tremble/pseuds/Tremble
Summary: Snippets of their live in Vietnam or Dave slowly finding out that Klaus is nowhere near ordinary.---This was originally suppose to be a 5+1 thing, but uh that didn't happen. oops





	something so magic about you (so tragic about you)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first TUA fic and it's probably super ooc but please be kind >< I am a very anxious person

Dave will never forget the time he first saw Klaus. He won’t forget anything about Klaus- it’s nearly impossible to forget somebody as magnificent and memorable as Klaus- but his mysterious entrance was more confusing than the man himself. He came to them in an ethereal blue light that no one else but him managed to catch, almost as if he was some sort of elusive angel meant for his eyes and his eyes alone.

  
One moment everything was as normal as being in the middle of a war could be, and the next he came from nowhere with nothing but a towel he knows doesn’t belong here, a strange briefcase and a look that showed he knew even less about what was happening than Dave did. Dave was caught in a sort of trance for a moment, wanting to ask if _anybody else_ sees the strangely beautiful man sitting there with the wrong type of injuries for their duty, but he couldn’t look away. Then the orders from his superior snapped him out of it as his squad mates threw gear into the man’s arms and they were leaving. He would just have to talk at a later time.

  
The next time they have to talk is when they’re traveling to the next destination. The man didn't look any more put together, but now he at least has clothing and the proper gear. Again, it felt like something was drawing Dave towards him, like a moth in the moonlight. He leaned into the isle and introduced himself with a smile.

  
Klaus was a little worse for wear. He was constantly fidgety, shiny from sweat and more than a little jumpy with every little sound or movement- even when there wasn’t anything for him to flinch from. For a minute there, Dave thought he might have been mistaken about what he saw that first day. Afterall, he’s been here for a few months already and the stress is already weighing heavy on his mind. Klaus’ behavior didn’t seem too off for a newbie if a bit more extreme than usual.

  
It didn’t make any sense for that to have happened anyway. The sleep deprivation must to have been getting to him. People don’t just _appear_ out of thin air like that.

  
Dave had asked what brought him here. Klaus looked away for a moment before those brilliant green eyes met his once again, “Not by choice.” He shrugged a little and let out an awkward laugh, “Not that anybody wants to be here, but you know how it is?” Yeah, Dave knew how it was. The draft didn’t care what you wanted and that was that.

  
Or, that’s what he was thinking before they regrouped at the next location. There were no records of Klaus being transported there. There wasn’t _any_ record of Klaus existing at all. There wasn’t even any way for him to even get to their camp at the first place. It was painfully obvious he had no idea what he was suppose to be doing and that he probably shouldn’t even be allowed at the front lines like this. Not that it mattered at this point. There was no time to figure out what happened and quite frankly, they needed all the help they could get. A dog tag was engraved and shoved into his hands and just like that Klaus was officially part of them.

  
Klaus was quiet for the first few days. He kept looking at that briefcase- wouldn’t let it out of his sight and Dave wondered what was so important in there, though he knew better than to ask. That wasn’t the kind of thing you go around talking about, but still he couldn’t think of a less convenient thing to carry around in a warzone.

Dave took it upon himself to make sure Klaus knew the routines and rules, assured him that there was always a bit of an adjustment period for newbies once they just come countryside from training. Klaus looked relieved at that; he didn’t need to know this should have been drilled into him months before they even _thought_ about bringing him over here to this hell. Either way, it ended up working out okay. Somehow, he was almost a natural at it- being a soldier, handling the weapons, learning the drills.

 

* * *

 

(Month 2)

  
A particularly bad dream ripped Dave away from his not-so-peaceful slumber. He awoke with a gasp, feeling his heart beating out of his chest. It took him a moment to get back to reality. There was no smoke around him, no nauseating stench of copper filling his nose, his limbs were fine- not rotting away with bacterial infections like his poor old pal Trevor. He needed to get out of this room, get some fresh air it was too suffocating with everybody else and he couldn’t risk waking them up. They all needed whatever sleep they could get.  
Being as quiet as possible, Dave slipped out of their camp and started to head out to re-center himself- do some rounds, dick around until daylight since there’s no way he could get back to sleep now- when he heard somebody talking. He stopped in his tracks. Normally he wouldn’t intrude when other people have their episodes- it rarely ended well for either party, but he felt that same force drawing him towards the voice. He couldn’t hear clearly at the distance, but he didn’t need to. He instinctively knew it was Klaus and the thought of him alone out here suffering hurt his heart more than it had any right to.

  
“Please,” Dave heard the voice whimper out, “Leave me alone. I can’t- stop! I can’t help you- go away! Just leave me alone! Why won’t you-“ Klaus cuts himself off, begs for somebody named Ben (his younger brother? Little Benny that died years ago?). He’s sitting at the base of a tree with his hands clutching at his ears and his knees up near his chest.

  
Dave walks over to Klaus, completely unnoticed. His eyes are squeezed shut, unaware of the world around him. Dave doesn’t want to startle him so he doesn’t make any attempt at physical contact, just calls out to him.  
“Hey, Kla- “ Dave can’t even finish the name before Klaus reacts. He doesn’t even blink and he still missed the lightning speed reaction. Suddenly Klaus is above him (When did Klaus stand up? When did he get on the ground?) staring down at him with unrecognizing emerald-green eyes and in another impossibly-quick motion he’s on his stomach with an arm restrained painfully behind him and a knee digging into his back.

  
Then, as quickly as the assault started, he was let go. Klaus was helping him up and Dave’s mind was reeling from the mental (and physical) whiplash.

  
“Shit,” Klaus mumbles from above him, voice raw from crying and breath short. “Muscle memory is a lot better than my active one, you can’t be sneaking up on a man here. I didn’t know it was you Dave.” He dried his eyes, tried to act like he wasn’t just caught halfway through a breakdown.

  
Klaus had no business looking like that right now. Tear tracks evident through the grime on his face, bags darker than the lining on his lids, panicked eyes searching everywhere except where Dave was standing, beyond exhausted and yet, unbelievably beautiful. It wasn’t something physical, right now everybody was more than a little bit dirty, but something purely _Klaus_ like his essence or his soul that just shines a gorgeous light through him no matter how he looks or what he’s doing.

  
He reminds himself to calm down with the gayness already. It’s no secret that Klaus liked men too (Once he said something about being a proud pansexual, but Dave never heard of that before. Klaus knew a lot about the queer community, taught him a lot of new terms. He swore it was going to get better, not perfect, but a lot better. Once he talked about gay marriage being legalized in the future like it was a fact instead of a ridiculous amount of optimism, and if it wasn’t so _insane_ Dave would have believed him) and honestly Dave has no idea how he can be so open about it, but they’re in the middle of a war and it’s no place for all these complicated feelings- even if Dave was already done for by the first time they talked.

  
“Yeah _no shit_ ,” Dave shakes his head in disbelief. He doesn’t mention what he saw, they both already knew he saw but Dave won’t push- never does. He talks, tries to distract Klaus from whatever terror that won’t leave him alone, “So, where did you even learn that- I know it wasn’t from here. If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were some martial arts master.”

  
“Oh, you know,” Klaus sits back at the base of the tree, Dave joining him, and he gestures with a shaky hand and runs it through his messy curls. “Dear old daddy Reggie couldn’t have weak kids. He acted more like a military commander than ours, raising little baby soldiers instead of children.”

  
That bad taste found its way back into Dave’s mouth. He gets the feeling Klaus means that a lot more literally than he should. If it weren’t for that sudden display of skills, how quickly Klaus was able to become a soldier from seemingly nothing, and how he knew Klaus was telling the truth- lacking that tone he picked up whenever he’s fibbing- Dave would just brush it off as an exaggeration for your typical demanding father. No, Dave believes him wholeheartedly.

  
He slowly, gently places his hand on top of Klaus’ other one. He doesn’t know what to say- what he can say, so he just goes with the safest best for now, “Sounds like an ass.”

  
Klaus snorts out a laugh, entwines their hands together. “You don’t know the half of it Davey-boy.” Dave doesn’t doubt it. With Klaus, everything and anything seemed to be possible. Dave wants to know everything about Klaus from the pain that follows him to everything that  
There’s a comfortable silence after that. Nothing but the sound of their breathing and the bugs. No platoon, no worry of being caught, just them. They don’t say anything about their hands, they knew better than to put a label on what they were. If they made it official, that would make it real and if it was real then the possibility that they don’t both make it out alive is real too.

  
“I want to know.”

  
Klaus looks up, “Whatcha mean Davey?”

  
“About you, your life outside of all,” He makes a wild gesture with his free hand, “This. I know it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows back stateside, but I would like to know. Especially considering, yknow, it’s your life. I want to get to know you more than just what we go through here.”  
Klaus leans against Dave, laying his head over the others shoulder, “Being with you is all sunshine and rainbows.”

  
“You don’t have to talk about it,” Dave kisses the side of his face. He can tell when Klaus is deflecting well enough by now, and again- he doesn’t push. “Just letting you know I would welcome it.”

  
He’s silent for a few moments. “I don’t even think they’ll notice I’m gone.” The composure Klaus was trying to hard to keep up slowly starts to crack. “My siblings.”

  
“Wait, _What_? You’ve been here for months!” He exclaimed; shock evident on his face.

  
“I’ve been gone for longer. They don’t even look anymore- not that I blame them.” Klaus just shrugs and starts imitating another voice, “ _Klaus get sober, oh, start being serious Klaus! Stop trying to get attention Klaus! There are more important things right now, Klaus._ As if they ever listened to me when I was sober and when I was being serious. It’s just- at that point why bother. Let them down long enough now actually playing the part can’t make them hate me more. Just as that old coot always said; the family disappointment!” He lets out a borderline-hysterical giggle. Always trying to downgrade his hurt, distract from it with some dark form of humor (Was Klaus ever taught even a single healthy way to express his emotions?).

  
Dave just stared at Klaus saying all of this so openly and flat- as if he was just saying a casual fact. Tears swell up in Dave’s eyes and Klaus falters, remembers how vulnerable and gentle Dave is compared to how fucked up and rough Klaus’s life has been.

  
“Your... own family, treats you like that?”

  
Klaus panics for a moment, wants to take it back- anything for Dave to not look so upset at something he’s done. “No, no, no it’s not like that. It’s my fault, really. I’ve been asking for it. Meine Vater, the shittiest shithole you could imagine, really pushed me too far once- a thousand times actually- and long story short living on the streets was better than another moment living in that house with him and the gh- yeah. They just never tried to understand, thought it was all for attention and fun instead of thinking just maybe I was a complex character too- with whole thoughts and problems just like them! The others all had their own personalized traumas to be dealing with, they didn’t have the time or capacity to care for a whole extra disaster too. I’m just not that important.”

  
Dave doesn’t speak at first, just pulls Klaus into a tight hug. “You _are_ important. Even if they were busy, they should have never given up on you, never treated you like that. Babe, you’re so much and I would knock your dad on his ass if given a chance, dead or not. I know there’s no do-overs on growing up or erasing what’s happened, but I’m gonna stick with you the rest of the way and do whatever I can now to help you, alright? You deserve so much better.”

  
“It wasn’t always like that.” Klaus breaks then, tears flowing into Dave’s shirt and hands clutched tightly onto him, but he doesn’t stop talking; his off switch disabled. “Luther always looked out for us. He truly cared about what was best for us until that literal-asshole-with-a-mustache got into his brain. Basically brainwashed him into a buff Reginald Junior.

  
“Diego never stopped caring about us in his own way. He always seemed to be around when I got in too much trouble. Sure, he was dismissive too, but I’m pretty sure he cared! When he moved out, well, I was a bit of the deep end already and he had his life going somewhere. I couldn’t interrupt that.

  
“Allison was always nice. She taught me how to use makeup and only rarely got mad when I stole her clothes. She moved on to bigger and better things- has a whole family and everything.

  
“And Five- well. Little bastard always thought he was so much better than us- guess he is. Five gets an exception, Ben too I guess since he’s dead! Not that being dead ever stopped him from being such a biTCH!”

  
Klaus looks around for a moment before visibly sagging, looking well exhausted beyond his years. Dave waits a moment before speaking, feeling like he’s witnessing some kind of inside joke he’s not a part of. That and confusion, a lot of confusion. It was just another mystery to add to the list. He leaves it alone for now, it being a topic too sensitive to delve into right now.

  
“What did you say that last one’s name was? It sounded kind of like you called him Five?”

  
“Oh.” Dave can feel Klaus tense up in his arms, “Five? That’s just, a nickname. Who would adopt seven kids and name them by order of how much he likes them? Hopefully nobody, unless your name is that of one Reginald Hargreeves! No, our mother named us, Grace thank you, if it wasn’t for her, I bet something utterly inhumane like that would have happened instead. Five would flip if we tried calling him by anything else. He actually, uh, ran away, kind of, when we were thirteen. I only briefly saw him again right when he came back before I was, _drafted_?”

  
The lie tasted bad on his tongue, more than usual. Maybe it was the way he was already in a compromised position, or because it was Dave of all people that he was talking to, but he kept rambling every thought that’s coming to mind in such a scrambled-up manner that neither the truth or his more-believable lies sound accurate.

  
He wasn’t Klaus. He was Number Four. He was only fourth because he had so much _potential_ , he could never live up to, not because he was even remotely worth 4th place. His father couldn’t have bothered to give him a real name. Klaus Hargreeves didn’t even exist on paper, not here in the middle of a war he wasn’t alive for and definitely not in the present (future?). The only sibling, he had that routinely cared about him only did so because he was _dead_ with nobody else to see him, and now he’s nowhere to be seen. Figures the only one he wants to see is gone and all he gets are these innocent casualties and the victims their squad has killed.

  
Now he’s just a man with a number for his name with so much weight on his back an active warzone is better than being home with his family. Four was always the problem child, the unimportant one with no actual use to the team. A middle child even when all his siblings held the same birthday. He can’t do anything! Even if he was sober, he can’t even _drive a car_ because there’s no way to tell the difference from the living or dead.

  
His train of thought drifted towards the past he tried so hard to keep under lock. He could hear Reginald’s disapproving words, feel the whack of his cane hitting his skin, see the dark stone walls of the mausoleum and the distorted screaming of the departed.

  
“-don’t have to. It’s okay Klaus. I’m here, you’re here. It’s okay.”

  
Klaus blinked out of his thoughts to a hand caressing his cheek and Dave’s concerned expression. Klaus curls into Dave’s warmth, lays his own hand over the one already on his face. He doesn’t want to let go. He doesn’t want to go anywhere else. If he could just stay forever with Dave, even if it’s on the battlefield, it would be perfect. He would never have to face his past (present?) again and he could just make a life with the one man that’s ever treated him so well. The one man he ever loved more than himself.  
“What can I do for you, baby?” Dave asks, running a hand through Klaus’s curls.

  
Klaus slowly relaxes again into his lovers’ grip. Finds himself worn out and sleepy, somehow the world becomes quieter around Dave- like he’s his own kind of drug. “Stay with me?”

  
“As long as you want me to.” And Dave mumbles the last part, as if he couldn’t decide to add it or just think it, “If it’s even half as long as I want to- I’ll never leave.”

  
If the sight of them fast asleep halfway hidden in the vegetation scared the shit out of Shawn when he was just trying to take a leak that next morning, well, nobody else needs to know.

 

* * *

 

  
(Month 3)

  
It wasn’t for another couple weeks that Dave witnessed another episode from Klaus. There were times it was obvious Klaus wasn’t doing so well- at least to him, he’s gotten pretty good at reading him- but it never went past that. Klaus was as much an expert at getting the attention _away_ from him as he can draw attention to him. He was a master of deflection and distraction. Now that he’s aware of what’s going on, it doesn’t fool Dave anymore though he lets it happen. Making Klaus uncomfortable is the last thing he wants.

  
When Dave woke up, Klaus wasn’t anywhere to be found. He didn’t show up through breakfast or lunch either. Sometimes Klaus took time to himself and that was fine, and other times Klaus returned tripping off whatever substance he can get his hands on around here. He doesn’t blame him, who wouldn’t want an escape from this hell? Their superiors occasionally hand out random pills that Klaus can somehow retroactively identify. It wasn’t a regular thing. It wasn’t as if there was a steady supply, especially for their longer missions, but Dave couldn’t help but think about Klaus’ drug addiction back stateside- all those close calls with overdosing.

  
It was the thought of Klaus alone, barely hanging on after accidentally overdosing, that got Dave up to look for him. If Klaus just needed space, he’ll leave, but he has to make sure he’s at least okay first.

  
When Dave found him outside (Klaus never liked enclosed spaces, something to do with his father) in the same position he was that one night, he didn’t even think twice about running to him.

  
“It’s Dave,” He announced his presence first from a bit farther away than the first time, “Hey Klaus?”

  
Klaus didn’t seem to notice him at all, just sat with his face buried in his knees and his hands crushing his ears. He was saying something Dave couldn’t quite decipher.

  
“I’m going to come sit next to you now,” Dave walked slowly and sat in front of me, “It’s just me. Are you. . .? “It would be stupid to ask if he’s okay right now. “What’s happening baby?”

  
It didn’t seem like Klaus was going to answer at first. When he did, he didn’t sound like himself, he sounded small- scared. “I- I don’t want to be here anymore.”

  
“Klaus. . .” Not for the first time, Dave felt his heart break. He didn’t know what he could possibly say to fix this.

  
“I don’t wanna be here anymore,” Klaus took a shaky breath and his voice broke into cries, “Let me out, pl-please let me out! I- I can’t.”

  
Dave didn’t think, just wrapped his arms around him. “Klaus! Klaus babe, I’m here, it’s me- Dave.”

  
“No! Nonono, they can’t! How? You can’t touch me!” Klaus violently jerked away and shook his head, shaking. Dave cursed at himself and immediately let go.

  
“ _Shit_ , I’m sorry. I won’t touch you. Klaus just, can you breathe for me. I need you to breathe for me, alright?”

  
Klaus looked up, stole a glance at Dave. He was terrified of something, he didn’t seem to recognize Dave at all, but he wasn’t high. His pupils weren’t blown out or unfocused, just fearful- glancing at things unseen. “You’re. . . _breathing_. You could- you’re _alive_?” He reached out hesitantly, grabbed onto Dave’s arm and held tightly. “You’re _really alive_ , god, fuck. You shouldn’t be- fuck, it’s been so long I- _please_.”

  
Dave panicked; he didn’t understand what was happening. Klaus needed him right now and he had no idea where to even begin. Dave looked between them, he wanted nothing more than to just hold him tight and kiss the tears away but that won’t help. Klaus needed something to latch onto to know he’s alive, something that wouldn’t put him further into a panic.

  
Cautiously, Dave pried the hand off his arm and held it in his own two. Klaus watched silently with wide eyes and Dave just gave a smile back in turn. Slowly, he placed Klaus’ hand over his chest.

  
“See? I’m here, I’m alive.” Dave’s heart thumped quickly under Klaus’ fingers. Klaus nearly launched himself onto him, burying his face into his chest. Dave gave a sigh of relief and brought him back into an embrace.

  
Klaus focused on the heartbeat of his lover, felt Dave kiss the top of his head and rub his back. Neither of them say anything until Klaus’ crying slows to just a few occasional sniffles. That’s right, he wasn’t a child anymore. He wasn’t in the mausoleum anymore.

  
“Hey baby I think you were having a flashback. Are you with me now?” Dave felt Klaus nod. He didn’t know a lot about these kinds of things besides his own experience and seeing the other guys stuck in their own flashbacks, but he knew it affected people differently and that it could get a little messy- time wise.

  
“Alright, you’re doing good. I’m going to ask a few questions, okay?” Dave felt Klaus give another nod. He knew doctors asked simple questions to make sure their patients are with them, but he wasn’t sure if that was just for concussions or not. It didn’t really matter either way, he just wanted to pull Klaus out of whatever past he was stuck in and he wasn’t sure where else to start.

  
“Who am I?” Dave asks.

  
Klaus held tighter onto him, “My knight in shining armor, my Dave, meine liebe.”

  
Dave gives another gentle kiss to the top of his head, “And you?”

  
“Number Four.”

  
Dave pauses, “Number four?”

  
Klaus hums in response, “Yeah?”

  
Dave was about to say something when he remembered the odd thing Klaus said a few weeks back ( _Who would adopt seven kids and name them by order of how much he likes them?_ ) and drops it. He wasn’t sure before if that was just part of his strange ramblings, but knowing all the other things that man has done and now this? He pushes the fury for Regin-ass aside for now, Klaus is more important.

  
“Can you tell me the president right now?” Dave asked instead.

  
Klaus doesn’t say anything for a while and then he just shakes his head, “I don’t think. . . Nixon, isn’t it?” Then mumbled in a way Dave knew meant he was accidentally thinking aloud, “Has that happened yet?”

  
“Okay,” Dave bites his lip, the gears turning in his mind as he struggles to put everything together. “Do you want to talk to me about what happened?”

  
“It was just. . . loud.” Klaus said honestly. He didn’t have the energy to lie or hide it right now and somehow, he knew Dave wouldn’t let him down. Dave was a good person, way too good for him.

  
“The battle?” Dave knew about the noise. He knew about the helicopters overhead and the bombs being thrown. He knew about the mines and the deafening gunfire. But even with all that he wasn’t prepared for what Klaus answered with. He couldn’t believe it was possible, couldn’t fathom how terrible that must be and again he knew in his heart; it was true.

  
Klaus shook his head again, “The dead.”

  
\--

  
Dave couldn’t get their last conversation out of his mind; what did he mean the dead? Was he talking about the lives they ended, people he use to know or did he mean the actual dead like spirits? It was hard to tell. Knowing Klaus any option could be equally true. Last night came and left with only more questions to be answered. Dave didn’t push and Klaus didn’t say. Instead Dave agreed to just talk.

  
_“Talk? Talk about what?”_

  
_“Anything,” Klaus answered him. “Distract me.”_

  
_And Dave just talked. He talked about whatever his mind led too; from his sisters at home, his father’s reaction to him being gay, Hanukkah celebrations, to the cats he always fed outside._

  
It was during some of their down time that Dave found some of the missing pieces of the mystery named Klaus. Neither of them said anything about that night, but Dave hadn’t forgotten. He always stole whatever glances he could (“God, Dave just ask him out already, nobody here cares that you’re gay. But I _will_ care if I have to spend one more day watching you two pining idiots flirt around each other.” Nick had said to him when he was about to lose a bet he made about them with Calvin). Now he just had a few more things to look for.

  
There were plenty of times Klaus would stare at nothing, keep making glances in the sides of the room where nobody was standing. He would still mutter under at his breath at seeming random times, be up in the middle of the night having conversations that had sounded a bit too fluid to be sleep talking and with a few too many pauses for it to just thinking aloud. The weirdest times were when they fought.

  
Aiming wasn’t easy in a controlled environment, being in the swampy trenches didn’t help at all. Sometimes though Klaus would shoot _badly_ \- It wasn’t as if he was just not paying attention, he was actively looking at _something_ , but there just wasn’t anything to hit except trees. It was one thing to purposely miss to avoid killing (something they’re both guilty of) but this was diferent. Whenever it happened, he would swear at himself and Dave couldn’t help but wonder if maybe there was somebody there, he just couldn’t see.

  
By far the weirdest thing to ever happen in the midst of battle was when he saw Klaus stop a bullet. It’s so _out there_ he should be admitting himself for a psych evaluation. People can’t track bullets all that well, sure sometimes you can see the blur as it passes by you, but this wasn’t that. He saw the bullet slow in midair, slow enough for him to make out an _actual_ shape, slow enough that he saw it turn slightly and continue its path away from him and the rest of their platoon, but fast enough that only he caught it (and only because he had been paying attention).

  
Dave could have sworn he saw Klaus’s hands emitting a faint blue light and it’s just so out there, so _impossible_ that it might have been possible, only because it’s Klaus and nothing about him was ever normal. He wasn’t even sure if Klaus knew what he was doing, but there was one thing Dave knew for sure; Klaus had powers (and that would explain the way Klaus came to him that fateful day, but even so why would he choose to come to a warzone of all places? Does he even have control over them?).

  
Klaus knew everything, or he acted like he did. Just like he swore gay marriage would be legalized, he knew Nixon was going to be elected (once he found out the president was actually Lyndon Johnson still). Honestly it just seemed like Klaus didn’t belong here, he didn’t fit in with the times and Dave’s theory that he came from the future and/or has some strange omniscient powers only gets stronger by the day. He had weird mannerisms and used slang nobody has heard of, but he didn’t seem to catch half the words his platoon said. He claimed it was regional but Jefferey was from the same area and he was even more lost than Dave was.

  
The day he was finally sure, the day _all of them_ were faced with irrefutable evidence that Klaus Hargreeves had some sort of magical abilities came in the most mundane of ways. Klaus usually stayed out of card games unless he was really pushed into it or couldn’t help himself from getting into the gambles. He could never remember the rules of each game straight (“Because I’m not straight!”) and Nathan was a hardcore card-counting cheater so it came as a bit of a surprise when Klaus was the one to offer up a game of poker.

  
It wouldn’t be that odd if that was it. Afterall there was only so much you could do before the boredom really started to hit. The weird part was that Klaus was actually _winning_ by a long shot. It seemed like he suddenly knew what he was doing even though just last week he had been genuinely struggling, he still didn’t even know what all of the card hands were called.

  
“Klaus you bastard! You’ve been hustling us this whole goddamn time, acting like you didn’t know shit. Disrespectful.” Nathan had thrown his hand down after Klaus officially won the game.

  
Klaus just laughed him off with a wave, “Trevor could never move on if he wasn’t able to put that one last victory over you.”

  
The entire group froze. Trevor died a month before Klaus got here. He was particularly close with Nathan and they’d always butt heads over the better player even though both of them were the nastiest cheaters you would ever find. They had this game going on, that the one with more wins by the end of their tour would win. They ended up with an even tie when Trevor eventually succumbed to the infection born from the trenches.

  
The 173rd was a tight crew. They accepted Klaus as one of them, stuck up with him through his fits and episodes. Even when they thought he had a screw or two loose when he talked about some things (There was no way somebody could biologically just not have a father. Nobody can have a baby without being pregnant, you think we were born yesterday?) he was one of them and nothing brings people together like good old war trauma. They accepted Klaus, but they didn’t accept half the shit that spewed out his mouth. Now though, they just looked at each other with the same realization going through their minds.

  
Klaus wasn’t lying.

  
When he saw everyone staring at him, Klaus realized what he just said.

  
“Sorry guys. Too soon, yeah?” He let out that nervous laugh he always had and waved them off with a tense gesture. “You know me, always talking outta my ass. Y’know, sincerely my bad, I shouldn’t have said that. I think I’m gonna head out for a minute, come back later and all that. Tchsüsse!”

  
And just like that Klaus slipped out, ignoring Nathans call to come back while everyone else looked at each other completely dumbfounded. Dave got out of it first being the most experienced with the surprises that followed Klaus.

  
“Dave,” He was about to leave when Nathans voice stopped him, “Can we talk?”

  
Dave looked out the door Klaus ran out of and sighed, the chance of finding him now was small. He knew that look- Klaus wouldn’t be back for awhile now. Klaus always got spooked out like that whenever he lets something slip about his. . .nature? Dave still wasn’t sure exactly what was going on with him.

  
“Yeah?” Dave turned around to see the rest of the platoon staring at him.

  
“You told him, didn’t you?” Another voice accused him, Calvin’s. “You two are always together, you had to!”

  
Nathan looked like he wanted to say something, but closed his mouth, staring intently. Dave just shook his head in return, “Even if I did, I thought Trevor won?”

  
“Well,” The attention quickly moved to Nathan instead as he started to speak, “Technically he did. I- you guys know how he was at the end. He was barely- he wasn’t really _there_ anymore.”

  
For a moment nobody spoke. They all remembered Trevor’s last weeks. It was painful to see him withering away with nothing they could do about it. Nathan started tearing up, they were close even before the war.

  
Nathan continued, “I couldn’t play him like we use to. It would be too unfair to him, but I couldn’t say no either. The last time we played, I went easy on him. I let him win and he was so- so cocky about it. He was happy, I couldn’t take that away. He was already dead. The week before he d- he died, he found out somehow. Said tomorrow he was gonna give me a rematch and I better play him for real because if he died before winning fo-for real he would haunt my sorry ass, but that last week he was barely awake. So if- If Klaus knew then. . .Oh- Oh my god-“

  
Tears freely started flowing down Nathans face. 

  
“Dave,” Nathan called for him again, “Can you… find him?”

  
Dave put a hand comfortingly on his shoulder and nodded, “Already planning on it.”

  
Dave looked for Klaus in all his usual spots and still came up empty. Every time he passed by Nathan, he would see his hopeful look before having to shake his head, Klaus isn’t anywhere to be found. This wasn’t a surprise exactly, but it still worried him. What if this time, Klaus would disappear just as he came?

  
Nathan flagged him down later that night and made him go lay down. There really weren’t that many places Klaus could be and searching at night would only make him tired come tomorrow. Dave reluctantly agreed, if only because it would make it that much harder to see without the suns light. He doesn’t remember falling asleep, but he wakes up to shuffling besides him. Klaus was sneaking back into their shared tent.

  
“Shit,” Klaus whispered, “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

  
Dave shot up and reached for Klaus, not fully awake yet. Klaus caught him in his arms.

  
“Whoa there Davey! Missed me?”

  
“Thought you were gone,” Dave mumbled. “Couldn’t find you anywhere.”

  
Klaus’s demeanor softened instantly and he littered his lovers face with little kisses, “No, no no Dave, meine liebe, schatz, I’ll never leave you. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

  
“When you came you were just _here_ , I saw it! I thought- you weren’t anywhere and what if you left me just like you got here.” Dave doesn’t know when he started crying, but all of a sudden Klaus is wiping away his tears with such a concerned look on his face, Dave thought he might just start crying again out of guilt.

  
“I won’t leave, baby, I promise. Coming here was an accident, but it was the best mistake I ever made- trust me. I’ve made a lot of them.”

  
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Dave’s voice came out quiet. 

  
Klaus hesitated for a moment, but he knew Dave deserved to know everything. “Would you have believed me? I mean- seriously. My own family _who also have powers_ didn’t even believe me about seeing Ben when _that’s my whole thing- The Séance_. It’s not you, God Dave it could never be you, I just… If the one person I cared about most shrugged me off too, I don’t know. I don’t know what I would even do.”

  
“I believe you.”

  
Hearing this, Klaus smiled. Dave really was too good for him. “I think there’s something else you should know. I’m not from here. I’m from the future- 2019.”

  
“I was right!” Dave cupped his cheek, “You’re really from the future- that’s how you knew about gay marriage and the president.”

  
“ _You knew_?” Klaus looked with disbelief, “ _This whole time?_ You could have said something! I’ve been tripping over my words like an idiot for no reason?”

  
“I didn’t _know_ for sure. I had a lot of ideas. I thought you could have come from the future, for a second, I thought you could be an alien or that you were clairvoyant. At first, I thought maybe you- actually uh no that was stupid.” Dave looked away, embarrassed that he almost spilled to Klaus something so mushy.

  
“Wait. What did you think? You can’t not tell me now!”

  
“I… thoughtyouwereanangel.” Dave rushed out.

  
Klaus’s eyes widened and a big smile found its way on his face. “You’re absolutely precious.”

**Author's Note:**

> yeah you could probably tell I was looking at this Way Too Long and rushed it out all messy like but yknow, tried my best 
> 
>  
> 
> if any of you wanna hmu tho,,,,, my discord is "oh dear #0592" I have,,, many ideas about all of them and id love to talk


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